Winston Duke Is M’Baku In “Black Panther”

“Person of Interest” and “Major Crimes” actor Winston Duke has scored the key role of the villain M’Baku, aka. Man-Ape, in the upcoming “Black Panther” film at Marvel Studios.

“Creed” helmer Ryan Coogler directs the project which stars Chadwick Boseman as T’Challa, the prince of the African nation of Wakanda, who must take over the mantel after his father’s murder.

In the comics, M’Baku was one of Wakanda’s most powerful warriors and one of T’Challa’s biggest rivals which would make him a secondary villain in the film. Duke reportedly beat out Yahya Abdul-Mateen II (“The Get Down”) amongst several other actors testing for the role this week.

Michael B. Jordan, Danai Gurira, and Lupita Nyong’o also star. Joe Robert Cole is co-penning the script with Coogler with shooting to begin soon ahead of a February 16th 2018 release. Kevin Feige is producing.

Speaking of the film, a new VFX reel for “Captain America: Civil War” has been released and confirms reports that the Black Panther costume was entirely CGI in the film – a visual overlay that replaced the practical costume worn by Boseman on set.